Blindspotting

Though Blindspotting has its cliche moments, overall it's an important film tackling race relations and gentrification in America. The chemistry and genuine camaraderie between writers/stars Diggs and Casal is at the heart of this film.

"Blindspotting" follows the story of an ex-convict living out his last month of probation. And with his childhood friend regularly getting into trouble, staying clean proves difficult. But after witnessing something terrible, he carries on, walking the streets of Oakland, playing the same scene in his mind over, and over again. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal create the perfect friendship in this film, showing their support for one another, even through the hard times. This movie showcases amazing cinematography, dialogue, and humour; deals with the topic of racial tension and shows how each character bears that in their own way

While in the theaters for another movie I saw a trailer for Blindspotting and thought, "This looks OK. Nothing special just OK." Then sometime later I saw a second trailer and thought, "Hmmm, this looks like something I may want to watch." I'm so glad I watched it.

The movie is incredible. Now, a little disclaimer: I definitely gave it a star or two more for being Oakland based and Oakland themed. And it wasn't simply that Oakland, California was the backdrop, no! It was thoroughly Oakland from the soundtrack, to the BART train, to the big wheel bikes, the big rim scrapers, the neighborhoods, and of course the A's, the Warriors, and the Raiders. Blindspotting definitely appeals to the Bay Area niche but it also has a larger universal appeal for anyone living in an urban area.

This movie was so well written, directed, and acted--they hit the trifecta. The center focus was the two main characters, Collin (Daveed Diggs), who is an African-American male on probation and Miles (Rafael Casal), who is a white male that is Collin's best friend and a bit of a loose canon. The dynamics between them was so fascinating and illustrated so well: a black man trying to be straight and having to be extra careful and a white man who is almost completely reckless yet not having the same fears.

But the movie tackled more than that. It covered gentrification, police brutality, living as a black felon and living as a white male who's just a product of his environment. It deftly handled all of these sensitive and delicate topics without offending the sensibilities or coming off trite. There was some powerful imagery, some powerful situations and even more powerful dialogue. The script was clever, intelligent and so spot on. Blindspotting is Oakland's Do the Right Thing, or Boyz n the Hood, or even more appropriate--Good Will Hunting.

This has been the best movie I've seen this year and that's saying a lot. I hope the writers, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, get their due recognition as well as the director Carlos Lopez Estrada. This movie could not have been easy to pull off and I think they all did a magnificent job.

This is the most Oakland movie ever created in my opinion, the film oozes with so much Town flavor that I fear a plethora of hipsters will soon enough come flocking from all over, trying to claim the Bay as their new home.

Pros: everything from the writing to the directing & acting was on point, I also loved the breakdown of the word Blindspotting & how we all are guilty of such action.

Cons: No Mr. FAB cameo, I was waiting to see him show up in some capacity.

Trying to strictly avoid spoilers, definitely recommend seeing this, perhaps knowing less about it going in is a plus.

The film is artful and smart while covering some serious wounds. Nine years in the making and the genuine friendship of the two main dates back before that and shines through even in the darkest moments here.

Words often fail, and they'll never stop a speeding bullet, but they still mean something. This is not cinema verite, you can find that on the nightly news sadly.

At times it was odd to enjoy such a creative encapsulation of multiple destructive forces. Amazing effort by cast and crew...in scanning the reviews, if you want something real this *may* disappoint you, but "Blindspotting" like the times themselves is surreal.